Weekend Fun

Mark's official birthday was yesterday, so we decided to celebrate on Saturday with a few close friends. Mark decided he wanted foot massages, sushi, and drinks at a new bar downtown. Joey and Katie were the only two that were brave enough to join us for the foot massages which turned out to be a good thing because it was sketchy! We walked in stayed for maybe 10 minutes and left with none of our feet having been massaged. So the 4 of us headed to Two Koi for drinks until our table was ready and the rest of our party joined us.

Yummy rolls and sushi!

Mark, Katie, Joey at the bar.

Not sure what he is expecting to pop out of the box, but Michelle looks really excited about it!

After dinner we headed to Blues and Brews where Amy and Ivan joined us. We didn't stay long, and while everyone else left Amy, Ivan, Mark and I headed to The Office, our usual post-dodgeball hang out, for some beer and shuffleboard. Mark and I dominated!

Thank goodness we gained an extra hour because I was at Bob and Michelle's at 9am Sunday morning to spend the day with Grace and Kiera while they went to the Hawks game. Mark found a free Day of the Dead festival at the Tacoma Art Museum so we decided to pack up the girls and check it out.

Grace, very patiently, waited in line for a hour to get her Day of the Dead face painting. She loved it. Every window or mirror that she could see her reflection in she would stop and look and make different faces...it was so cute!

Looking down at the main floor of the museum from the 3rd floor.

There were a ton of arts and craft and Day of the Dead displays. I was surprised at how in to the art Grace was, even the regular art exhibits at the museum held her interest. And, Kiera has to be the easiest baby/toddler every. She is so content to be held and snuggle and just look around and take it all in. We had so much fun spending the day with them!

No Home Town Loyalty!

Anyone who knows me knows I love sports and also knows I’m not much of home town fan. Given the fact that I have lived in W WA from day one I get asked all the time how I can forsake the home town teams.

Before I go any further remember I have been watching sports since I was a little girl and formed my likes and dislikes when I was young so some of my reasoning may seem a bit silly but when I was 7ish it made perfect sense to me!

Yes I have lived in W WA my entire life but I grew up in SW WA and the “local” TV stations were Portland based. I never saw Seattle based TV programming until I was 20 and moved to Tacoma. Because of that I grew up watching Oregon teams. The Portland Trail Blazers were the only pro team in any sport that got regular play in my house. I didn’t even really know the Sonics existed back then and now that they are gone I’m glad I still have my Blazers! I have also been known to be a Celtics fan because I liked the parquet floor and a Spurs fan because they have had individual players that I liked. And I went through the bandwagon Jordan/Bulls fan stage like everyone else, but ultimately it still comes back to the Blazers being my favorite NBA team.

I actually prefer college basketball to the NBA and have been a Duke fan since I was a freshman in HS. The first time I saw a Duke game I was shocked to see a short white guy playing point and he was really good! Blame it on Bobby Hurley. Over the years I have come to admire the attitude of the team and have a lot of respect for coach K and how he runs the program. Even though Duke is my team I will watch almost any college basketball game for the simple fact that I take my March Madness brackets VERY serious and I like to do my homework. Sometimes I like the Zags and the Huskies, but never pick them to go far in the tourney and am not loyal to them.

The whole Oregon thing does not work for the NFL as there in no NFL team in Oregon, so why not be a Hawks fan? Well when you grow up with a family member who played for the Steelers and won 2 SB’s with them no other football team stands a chance! I did go through a teenage rebellion stage where I thought it was fun to piss my Dad off by being a Raiders fan. Deep down I have always been a Steelers fan though. I love their style of hard hitting, play in the mud, grind it out and fight for every single yard style of football. That is not to say that I don’t appreciate and even enjoy watching teams like the Colts. Peyton’s ability to run a complex offense and pull off intricately designed plays is fun to watch! I can appreciate a faster, cleaner (translation indoors/fake grass) finesse type of game. What I don’t appreciate is a team that never seems to be able to pull out the win when it counts and the fact that I’m still hearing about how unfair the SB was. For that reason alone I will never be a Hawks fan.

As for college football I don’t remember the Ducks or Beavers being all that great as a kid, nor do I remember hearing much about the Huskies, Cougars, or the Pac 10 in general. What I do remember is Notre Dame being on TV every Saturday. Three things I loved about ND: 1 - they play the style of football I love. 2 – they don’t have their names on their jerseys which made me feel like it was more about the team than individual stars. 3 – they were non-conference so only teams that knew they could beat them would play them…they never have an easy schedule. Combine those 3 things with the fact that they were/are on TV EVERY SATURDAY and how could I not like them?!

Over the years not much has changed…ND football is still ND football and I love it! With all other college teams I’m totally a bandwagon fan. I watch if they are winning or are exciting, but as soon as they have a bad season I move on. This year I have been influenced by a few blogs/co-workers/friends and have given the Pac 10 a bit more consideration. I’m pretty excited about the Ducks and have been paying attention to the big matchups, but ND is really the only college team I can be considered a true fan of.

As for soccer, baseball, hockey, golf, tennis I’m pretty indifferent. I don’t have any favorites in any of these sports and as long as the game/match is a good one I don’t really care who is playing. I will say I could easily add soccer to my sports viewing obsession as I love the strategy and it is a lot of fun to watch in HD on our big screen.

My disclaimer to all of this is I love sports in general and especially when it comes to football I would rather watch a team I can’t stand than not watch football at all. Also, I have never turned down free tickets and am going to a Hawks game next month as a football fan, NOT as a Hawks fan. :)

Flag Football Anyone

James Harrison has been fined $20,000 for a late hit to Drew Brees.

While I respect that fact that the NFL is trying to make the game safer by avoiding helmet to helmet hits I do not agree with this fine in the least.

It is not the NFL's place to attach monetary fines for penalties during the game unless there is helmet to helmet hitting or an extreme case of unnecessary roughness, or fighting...basically has to be pretty blatant in order to be fined.

I watched the game and while it was a late hit on Brees it did not look like a helmet to helmet hit or an unnecessarily hard hit, just late. And, believe me I have seen enough re-plays as all anyone can talk about is how Harrison has struck again and no matter how many times I see the late hit I don't see anything that warrants a fine.

Players are not fined for holding, roughing the kicker, blocks in the back, intentional grounding etc. and unless the NFL is going to start fining every player who gets flagged during a game no matter the nature of the penalty then they should not be fining Harrison in this instance.

I know this sounds like a Steelers fan defending a Steelers player, but really my #1 concern is the direction the NFL is going and the potential changes that will bring to the game. Pretty soon they will be wearing flags and there will not be any tackling at all.

I realized the other day one of the reasons I have enjoyed college football so much this year, there is very little talk about how dangerous the game is or fines to players or helmet to helmet hits. I'm sick of it and just want to watch some good football games.

Adoption Update

I have not posted much about the adoption in a while. Mostly because there is not much to tell. The only “action” we have had as of late is updating some of the home study paperwork that is only good for a year.

It is hard to believe we have been waiting for a year already. The last year has had its share of adoption related ups and downs for sure, most of which you all have gone through with us. I actually don’t post much about how I’m feeling or what I’m thinking because honestly it is hard sometimes. I get asked 2 to 3 times a day from various people what is going on with the adoption and honestly I just get tired of talking about it.

I am a pretty self aware person and I am constantly analyzing how I’m feeling or what I’m thinking about things varying in importance from how I’m doing in fantasy football to my marriage and everything in between. The adoption process has given me ample opportunity to analyze what I’m thinking and feeling.

When the process first started I was so excited, ready to jump through any and all hoops and convinced we would find the perfect situation within months. Every email we would get regarding a potential baby would make me start thinking this is the one, this will be the baby for us. A year later and 4 or 5 “close calls” later and I don’t get all that excited anymore. We still get those emails, but I just don’t get worked up about it. I’m at the point that until a birth mom says “You are the couple” I just can’t allow myself to get that excited. I would rather be sort of flat line about it than have the highs of excitement and lows of disappointment. Emotional self preservation I guess.

I have also found that some of my coping techniques may be working too well. My adoption party line has been that Mark and I are taking advantage of what child-free time we have left and enjoying how easy things are right now. Well that has worked so well that the thought of our easy life changing has started to freak me out a little bit. Please nobody worry, I’m not changing my mind or backing out and I’m still so excited to be a mom at some point, but I will be honest and say that I’m a little freaked out!

It’s almost like we have too much time to think about it and prepare. Too much time to think about the good things: first smiles/words/teeth/steps and the stressful things: lack of sleep/dirty diapers/spit up. I know the rewards will far, far outweigh any stress I just wish I could turn my brain off and stop thinking about it sometimes.

Football

I am pretty excited about FFB this week! I won in two leagues and tied in the other one. Best week I have had in all three leagues all season!

In my Battle of the Sexas League I won again and have worked my up to 6th. If I can keep winning and break the top 4 I still have a chance at playoffs. With a few key people losing and me continuing to win it could happen...maybe. :) I am now 4-4.

Work league I tied in this week. I hate ties, but it is better than nothing. I am 2-5-1

Jock and Jill Straps - I finally won! I am now 1-7. I can't believe I am that bad in my main league, but it is what it is.

As for real football I don't even know what to say about the Steelers. They looked terrible. We have one major issue...we don't have a deep threat, go to receiver. Not yet anyway. There are a few guys who can turn into that, but they are not there yet, or maybe Ben's timing with them is not there yet? I don't know what was missing but they had better figure it out quick if they want to make it into the playoffs!

Halloween Bash 2010

Bob and Michelle always go all out for Halloween! The house is completely decorated inside and out! It is always fun and festive! We had a great time and were thankful they let us spend the night in the trailer so we could enjoy ourselves and not worry about driving. Was a good thing too because I discovered that I LOVE Plum Vodka. No I didn't get sick, but I did enjoy myself!

Group shot back row: Mark, Alex, Bob Ben, Kev, Vanilla Ice :), Josh, Tina

front row: Larissa, me, Kaleena, Michelle. Funny thing we were supposed to be acting out our costume so I thought I would pretend to elbow Bob in the balls, only I really did elbow him. SORRY!

Katie, Grace, Alli, Abi

Michelle and Bob...they looked great together as Greek Gods!


Having fun with the decorations. I LOVE my Roller Derby outfit!

Mark the Samurai Warrior

Mark and I...no we didn't coordinate, but we had a lot of fun!

Quote of the night..."You have to wiggle it a little and then pull it out." Those involved will remain anonymous however I will say this had nothing to do with what it sounds like it may have had to do with.